Painted and Indigo Buntings,Doves,Pileated Woodpeckers,Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Squirrels,Cardinals,Wrens,Northern Parula Warblers,Osceola Turkeys,Racoons and Hawks visit our yard..while Osprey..an occasional Swallowtail Kite or Bald Eagle can be seen soaring overhead.. We live in a hammock area... Thickly wooded with palms, live oaks, red maples, needle palms and a soil(muck)that is like potting soil.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Five Lined Skinks and Broad Headed Skink

The American 5 Lined Skink lives in one of my trees. I had thought it would be nice if a swarm of bees moved into the hollow…but today I spotted 3 skinks. The arrows show where each one was. You can see my hives in the back ground and my “blue bee” chair.

I love this tree…it has such an unusual extra “leg” and the root system is beautiful.

I see Carolina Wrens go inside looking for bugs. At first I thought they wanted to nest there.

I think this is a Broad Headed Skink. It was the largest of the 3. I would guess about 7-8 inches.

It was chasing one of the others down the tree.

I looked a bit lower on the tree and here was the one it was after. This one is starting to get the red head and was a bit smaller. It’s tail has already started to fade. I am not sure if the 5 lined Skink and the Broad headed skink are related. It looks as if I have both.

This juvenile was on another part of the tree. Look at the beautiful colors. I see a lot of these running around the deck. The larger ones stay closer to the tree.

I’m glad I was checking out the tree before I posted this…..I spotted this pair on the tree. They did their best to try and evade me but I was persistent and got some video of them. Now I know where the expression “being right on someone’s tail” came from. The male followed wherever she went. I don’t think the female is in any of the pictures above…but the male could be.

6 comments:

Cool sequence. Both species are in the same genus, but I wonder if what you have here is a mature male broad-headed skink chasing away some juvenile males (or perhaps pursuing a female, i.e. the one with the fading blue tail).

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About Me

My husband and I are best friends. We have spent almost everyday of the past 19 years together. And most of it in small spaces. 15 years in a truck and as much time as we can on a small boat. Together we have 5 children. All of whom are decent,caring people. I don't think I can say anything nicer about them then that. I enjoy photography, and am amazed at how little I really know about the critters that share our little spot in the jungle. But I am learning.